Machine for handling and cleaning seed-cotton



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

R. S. THOMAS, S. W. HARDWIGKr 8v W. E. ELAM. MACHINE NoN HANDLING ANDGLEANING SEED COTTON.

No. 458,380. PatentQAug. 25,1891.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. R. S. THOMAS, S. W. HARDWIOK & W. H. HLAM.MACHINE FOR HANDLING AND CLEANING SEED COTTON.

Patented Aug. 25, 1891.

(No Model.) Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 3. R. S. THOMAS, S. W. HARDWIGK & W. E.ELANM. MACHINE FOR HANDLING AND CLEANING SEED GTTON.

`Patented Aug. 25, 1891.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

R. S. THOMAS, S. W. HARDWIGK 8v W. E. ELAM. MACHINE PCN HANDLING ANDCLEANING SEED CCTTCN.

No. 458,380. Patented Aug. 25, 1891.

we cama renna so., muro-umn., wneuxne'rcn n c UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ROBERT SMITH THOMAS, SAUNY VARREN HARDIVIOK, AND VILLIAM ERWIN ELAM, OFDALLAS, TEXAS. l

MACHINE FOR HANDLING' AND CLEANING SEED-COTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 458,380,` dated August25, 1891.

Application filed January 30, 1890. Serial No. 338,614. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom ifl may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT SMITH THOMAS, SAUNY WARREN HARDWIGK, andWILLIAM ERWIN ELAM, citizens of the United States, residing at Dallas,in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Machines for Handling and CleaningSeed-Cotton; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relatesto devices for taking seed-cotton from wagons orstorehouses through pneumatic tubes and delivering it freed from dustand other extraneous matter to any number of gins. for impartingiiexibility to the feed-section of the tube for distributing the cottonand for disposing of the surplus when the cotton is supplied faster thanit can be ginned.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis an elevation of a gin-housewith our apparatus in position therein, one side of the house beingremoved to expose the interior. Fig. 2 shows the apparatus in plan. Fig.3 is an elevation looking to the left in Figs. l and 2. Fig. 4 is apartial enlarged plan of a certain conveyer with the conveyer -belt inplace therein. Fig. 5 is an enlarged View of beltshipping mechanism.Figs. 6 and show the outer faces of the opposite sides of a certainseparator-box. Fig. Sis a similar view of one side of an auxiliaryconveyer.

In the drawings, A represents the walls of a gin-house, and B apower-shaft by which all the mechanism is driven.

O C are gins, each provided with a ginfeeder D. Upon the tops of thefeeders rests a separator-box E E', that communicates by suitableopenings with each feeder. The box has two compartments, to each ofwhich cotton is supplied by a tube F, having branches F F, through whichan air current is induced by a fan G, connected with the branches F F bya tube H, its branches H H, and short troughs I crossing the box E. Thetube F passes through the walls of the building.

and upon the outside is joined to a normally vertical feed-tube F by twoIiexible pipes It includes devices- J J and an intermediate curved tubeF4. The connectionsJ J are of leather, rubber, or other iiexiblematerial, and are closely secured to the ends of the rigid sections, orpreferably to iianges or collars K upon the ends of those sections. Thecollars are employed in order that the pipes may be of greater diameterthan the rigid sections, and may therefore permit the passage of thefull .air-current even whenby flexure they are partially closed. It isevident that the pipe J may be omitted without destroying thepossibility of the universal motion necessary for the feed-tube F but weprefer the construction shown. The weight of theparts beyond theconnection J is counterbalanced by a weight L, attached to the parts tobe supported bya cord M, passing over suitablysupported pulleys N.lVithin the gin-house the tube F is provided with a downwardlyextendingbranch F5, intended for taking up and again offering to the gins suchsurplus cotton as rapid feeding may cause to accumulate, mechanism to bedescribed delivering such surplus near the mouth of the tube. By meansof common valves x fr either the tube or its branch may be closed atwill.

I/Vithin each of the compartments of the box E are mounted two drums O,which carry screen-belts P, having at intervals transverse wings P',some of which are always in contact with eXible wings Q, projectinginward t from the top and ends of the compartments. These wings areintended to obstruct the passage of air from the feeder, and this objectis further aided by iiaps R of like material fastened to the ends of thewings P to completely close the lateral space.

Immediately beneath the ends of the branches F F and beneath the foldsof the belts, respectively, are the troughs I, each of which is closedat its front end by the front wall of the box, and each of whichcommunicates by an aperture -in the rear wall with one of the branchtubes H H leading to the fan. Cotton delivered by either of the branchesF F falls upon the moving screen-belt,which arrests it while allowingthe dust to pass on to the fan, by which it is discharged outside thebuilding or elsewhere, as desired. The cotton thus arrested is carriedon with the IOO screen-belt and drops into the feeder. If the cotton befed faster than it can be ginned, the feeder fills, and were there nocounteracting devices the apparatus would be clogged. Means aretherefore provided for automatically interrupting the transmission toany feeder while it is filled. l

At the left in Fig. l is shown a continuation E of the box E. In this isa common conveyer-belt W, running upon drums and provided withtransverse cleats Y.

Upon the shaft of one of the drums are two loose pulleys 2 3, andbetween them is a pulley 4, fixed to the shaft. Upon these pulleys runtwo parallel belts 5, one of which is crossed. Both are driven by thesame pulley 6 upon a shaft 7 above the apparatus already described. Thepulleys 2 3 4: are equidistant and the two belts are arranged to runupon either two adjacent on es and are changed simultaneously from onepair to the other by a belt-shipper V. As shown, the crossed belt runsupon a loose pulley and the other upon the xed pulley, and this causesthe carrier-belt to run in the direction of the arrow a; but if both beshipped the crossed belt will run upon the fixed pulley and the otherupon the loose pulley, and the motion of the carrier-belt will bereversed. Now bars S are fixed across the tops of the feeders, and tothese bars are hinged boards T. To each board is rigidly secured an armU, whose upper end is slotted and pivoted to the shipper V, the latterbeing supported in suitable guides. This part of the apparatus isadapted for use only with that common form of feeder illustrated in Fig.3 in connection with another part of the apparatus. In this feeder theentering cotton falls upon a feeder-belt S,

4o which carries it forward and deposits it, or a part of it, in thegin. Above the front end of the feeder-belt is a rotating toothed cylin`der 25, whose teeth continually throw backward the excess of cotton, ifthere be any, and thus regulate the speed of delivery to the gin itself.Evidently continuedffexcess fills the feeder. Now so long as there is nosuch accumulation the belt W runs in the direction of the arrow and allthe cotton from the box E is deposited in the feeder; but if there be anaccumulation, as described, the board is thereby forced to rotate uponits hinges, as suggested in dotted lines in, Fig. 8, and the belts areshipped, reversing the motion of the belt NV and causing it to take thecotton coming from the box E and deposit it near the mouth of the tubeF5. Meantime the gin operates to remove the accumulation and the boardfalls again, shipping the belts 5 and reversing the motion of the beltW. It is not necessary that each gin should have an auxiliary carrier,one being sufficient to remove the whole surplus. Therefore the othergins have a dierent arrangement to prevent choking, a shipper V,actuated by like means, being used to ship upon an idler the belt 9,

which drives the drums O. The accumulation in the corresponding feederthus temporarily stops the passage of the cotton through the tube branchF by arresting the motion of the screen-belt, the cotton that would passtherethrough being carried by the branch F and discharged at the mouthof the tube F5. As before, the removal of the accumulation by the ginpermits the board to fall and the belt 9 automatically resumes itsworking position.

The shafts of the conveyer drums are mounted in movable bearings Z, asseen in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, whereby the turning of two screws c, Figs. 7and S, or nuts c', Fig. 6, may regulate the tension upon eitherconveyerbelt. The bearings Z, which in Figs. 7 andS slide in ways z',are pushed or drawn by the screws or nuts, the side walls of the boxbeing slotted at f5 to permit lateral motion `of the shafts rotating inthe bearings. As shown, the pulley l0 upon the driving-shaft isconnected by a belt Il with a pulley 12, upon the shaft 7, and from thislatter shaft the belts already mentioned'pass to the several drum-shafts. Other pulleys 1+i upon the driving-shaft operate the gins.The belts driving the feeder-carrier S and the toothed cylinder are notshown, but may be such as are illustrated in many patents showing thisfeeder or such otherarran gement as is deemed suitable.

In Fig. 3 we have shown a counter-shaftl5 and belts adapted to give thefan a high speed.

It is plain that many details of construction and arrangement may bevaried without passing beyond the scope of our invention. For example,the hinged board in the feeder may be any movable body arranged Ain anyposition to be displaced by the pressure of the cotton accumulated inthe feeder and connected with any mechanism adapted to arrest the flowof cotton approaching the feeder, the most important part of thisinvention being not in the novel constructions employed to accomplishsubordinate ends, but in the combination, with a feeder, means fordelivering cotton to the feeder, and mechanism for arresting the iiow ofapproaching cotton, of devices operated by the pressure of cottonaccumulated in the feeder, and connections whereby the motion of saiddevices is imparted to the arresting mechanism to actuate it. Ve do nottherefore wish to limit ourselves to the exact forms and relativepositions shown.

Vhat we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent` isl. Thecombination, with a gin-feeder and apparatus for delivering cottonthereto, o f mechanism operable to arrest the flow of cotton in saidapparatus, a movable body arranged to be displaced by pressure of cottonaccumulated in the feeder, and suitable connections arranged to transmitto the arrest- IOO ing mechanism the motion of the pressureactuatedbody, whereby clogging in the feeder is automatically prevented.

2. The combination, with a gin, its feeder, and a conveyer to delivercotton to the feeder, of a subordinate conveyer operable to divert fromthe feeder the cotton brought by the first conveyer, and means wherebythe pressure of cotton accumulated in the feeder may cause the operationof the subordinate conveyer.

3. The combination, with a gin-feeder and a branched tube, one branch ofwhich delivers cotton lo said feeder, of mechanism operable to divertthe approaching cotton from said branch to anotherr branch, a movableplate or board arranged in position to be displaced by the pressure ofcotton accumulated in the feeder, and suitable connections whereby thepressure-induced motion of said plate may operate said mechanism,preventing undue congestion in the feeder.

4. The combination, with the gins and their feeders, of distinctconveyers for delivering cotton to the feeders, a pneumatic tube havinga branch to convey cotton to each conveyer, means whereby the pressureof cotton in one feeder may arrest the corresponding conveyer andthuscause its cotton to pass to the other conveyer, a subordinate conveyeroperable to take the cotton from the conveyer last named before itreaches the correspending feeder, and means whereby the pressure ofcotton in that feeder may cause such operation of the subordinateconveyer.

5. The combination, with the gins, their feeders, and a pneumaticcotton-conveying tube having branches to supply the separate feeders, ofscreen-conveyers moving transversely across the ends of the branches toreceive the cotton and deliver it to the feeders, and means whereby thepressure of the conton when accumulated in one of the feeders may arrestthe motion of one of the conveyers and thus temporarily cause all thecotton to pass to the other.

6. The combination, with the gins, their feeders, and a pneumaticcotton-conveying tube having abranchto each feeder, of a conveyeradapted to intercept the cotton passing through one branch and convey itaway, a board hinged in eachfeeder and adapted to be displaced by thepressure of cotton accumulated therein and to-return to its normalposition when such pressure ceases, mechanism connected to one board andadapted to arrest the iiow of cotton in one branch or to permit it,according as the board is raised or is in its normal position, andmechanism connected to the other board and adapted under like conditionsto cause said conveyer to intercept the cotton or to permit it to passto its feeder.

7. The combination, with the gins, their feeders, and the divided boxresting upon the feeders, of the tubes F F F, the troughs I, the tubes HH H the fan creating a current in said tubes and troughs, thescreen-belts O, passing overthe troughs below the mouths of the tubebranches F F, the auxiliary conveyer X, driven by belts 5, the boards T,hinged in the feeders, and the arms U, connectin g the boards to thebelt-shippers V, operating, respectively, to ship the belts 5, and thebelt 9, driving one of the screen-belts, whereby the auxiliary conveyerand one of the screen-belts areautomatically thrown into and out ofoperation as the accumulation of cotton in the feeders increases ordiminishes.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

ROBERT SMITH THOMAS.

SAUNY WARREN HARDIICK. VILLIAM ERWIN ELAM.

lVitnesses:

J. R. PIERCE, J. D. PoLK.

